Kalashnikov says Iraq shows his gun is still best

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Mikhail Kalashnikov, designer of the world's most popular assault rifle, says that U.S. soldiers in Iraq are using his invention in preference to their own weapons, proving that his gun is still the best.

"Even after lying in a swamp you can pick up this rifle, aim it and shoot. That's the best job description there is for a gun. Real soldiers know that and understand it," the 86-year-old gunmaker told a weekend news conference in Moscow.

"In Vietnam, American soldiers threw away their M-16 rifles and used (Kalashnikov) AK-47s from dead Vietnamese soldiers, with bullets they captured. That was because the climate is different to America, where M-16s may work properly," he said.

"Look what's happening now: every day on television we see that the Americans in Iraq have my machine guns and assault rifles in their armored vehicles. Even there American rifles don't work properly."

Some U.S. troops in Iraq have reportedly taken to using AK-47s in preference to the standard-issue M-16. The Cold War-era gun, renowned for its durability and easy handling, is plentiful in Iraq.

Kalashnikov designed his first weapon in 1947 and is still chief constructor at Izhmash arms factory in Izhevsk in the Urals mountains.

The factory's director Vladimir Grodetsky told the news conference that around a billion rifles had been produced around the world using parts of Kalashnikovs or based on the same design, only 10-12 percent of which were made in Russia.

E.L. wrote:
I think that will change for the better sometime this summer

Whay is that?

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That's just the rumor. Supposedly a lot of the military contracts are close to being filled, and this was given as a reason why the civilian market orders were not being filled. I do not have a credible source saying this, I just read it on several different boards where vendors were stating such. I think Magnus has heard the same.

Our military soldiers do. Some do sure. I have seen lots of pics in SOF of our guys that had AK's in their hummers, and on their backs. I have also ready stories from the SOF coorespondents and interviews with our guys who talk about using them. Not all, and probably not a huge %, but some do.

I can assure you that no one in the Army has forsaken their M-16 for a AK. The Army won't let you wear body armor that isn't issued, I can assure you they won't let you leave your M-4 behind for an AK. What good old Anatoly probably saw was a Iraqi soldier all dudded up in our equipment carrying an AK as that is what they do.

"From this day to the ending of the world, but we in it shall be remembered; we few, we happy few, we band of brothers, for he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother, and the gentleman now a bed shall think themselves accursed they were not here, and hold their manhood cheap" -- Henry V